The family of a Rutgers student missing since November are outraged the last person to see him is walking free — despite pleading guilty to threatening the victim.
Mortimer “Morty” Wortman IV, of Jackson, NJ, was last seen on Nov. 21, when surveillance cameras picked him up getting into a car with Adam Zalouk, the car’s owner, in the parking lot of the Regional Day School, about four miles from Rutgers in Jackson.
Wortman’s car was found in the same parking lot three months later. The senior was never seen again.
With authorities offering a $10,000 reward for information about the landscape architecture student’s whereabouts, the missing man’s friends and family are now pointing the finger at Zalouk, who they say had a history of stalking and threatening Wortman.
Zalouk reported Wortman missing 18 hours after he was last seen, according to police. Zalouk told investigators that he and the 22-year-old got into a fight, so the student got out of the car and wandered into nearby woods to walk home, Wortman’s mother Johanna Reyes told The Post.
On Monday, Zalouk pleaded guilty to third-degree terroristic threats against Wortman during a July encounter in Point Pleasant, NJ, in which he chased Wortman with a knife and carved “slut” into his car — allegedly after Wortman rejected him, police said.
But Zalouk was handed a sweet deal — pre-trial intervention with no jail time, while weapons and criminal mischief charges were dropped, NJ.com reported.
Zalouk has not been charged in connection with Wortman’s disappearance.
Ocean County prosecutors said they were hamstrung in the Zalouk case, ironically, because Wortman was not there to testify.
“We were all disappointed,” Reyes told The Post of the prosecution. “But this is not the end. We’re just going to pray that [Zalouk] messes up, which he most likely he will. My main focus is finding my son.”
Wortman’s loved ones sat behind Zalouk in court with posters of the missing man, whose father bluntly addressed the judge.
“I truly believe Adam knows where my son is at,” Mortimer Wortman III said, according to News 12. “He’s been stalking him.”
The exact nature of Wortman and Zalouk’s relationship remains unclear. News 12 reported that the pair were romantically involved, but Wortman’s close friends Abi Bischoff and Nick Moccio told The Post they were not.
Moccio, 22, has devoted his Instagram account to finding Wortman.
“The only person that could tell us where he is Adam and he’s still free and he’s still not telling the truth,” Moccio told The Post.
Wortman’s mother said that about a week before her son went missing, her husband saw Zalouk’s car lurking outside of their home. The family did not alert police until after Wortman disappeared, she noted.
The dad “said that when he went to tell my son that there was somebody out there in a white car, and my son like jumped out of bed scared,” Reyes recalled.
Wortman even told his parents to make sure the doors were locked, Moccio alleged. “He was concerned for their safety.”
Moccio and Bischoff, 23, also claimed that Zalouk’s family has been hindering search efforts.
His father, Osama Zalouk, tore down missing posters for Wortman on Staten Island.
Osama Zalouk admitted to tearing down the posters, telling The Post he only did so because his son’s face was on them.
He claimed Zalouk has been instructed by lawyers not to comment. Alex Zalouk could not be reached for comment.
The elder Zalouk said his son and Wortman had a “minor argument” before they student disappeared, and that Zalouk “was looking for him all night.”
“Morty’s the best person I know,” Moccio said. “He didn’t deserve this and this was not supposed to happen to Morty.”
Reyes said her toddler asks daily where her brother is, and that she and her husband take turns crying to try and stay strong in front of the little girl.
“My whole family is just hurting,” Reyes said. “He’s just so loved by all and it’s been very hard without him.”
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